Guishan City in the Western Regions, the city walls are ruined and corpses are everywhere. If it weren't for the broken city wall with some broken Han flags, it would even make people think that this place had been broken by the rest army.

It's been more than a month since the witch murder case was discovered. Chang'an has been implicated in the Gongsun He Wu Gu case has reached thousands of people, many of whom are also important ministers of powerful families, just a few days ago, even Changping Hou Wei and his wife, as well as Princess Yangshi and Princess Zhuyi were also involved.

The intervention of the crown prince Liu Ju does not seem to have controlled the situation, but the situation is still developing in the direction of getting out of control.

At this moment, the outer city of Guishan City has become dilapidated, a large section of the city wall has collapsed, and the corpses on both sides of the city wall have long been piled up, there are soldiers under Huo Guang's command, and there are also soldiers who rest in peace. At this time, the two sides had been fighting here for more than three months, and the total number of casualties on both sides was no less than 60,000 or 70,000.

Outside the outer walls, several strange instruments were embedded in the ruined walls. This kind of equipment is made of iron, and it looks like a simple carriage with a beam fixed to it, and a stout huge iron pillar weighing thousands of pounds is hung from the iron chain, and a long iron chain is attached to one end of the iron pillar.

It was this kind of equipment that the Sabbatarians carried to the city wall, and then thousands of people dragged the iron chain from behind, pulled the huge iron pillar high, and then let go and hit the city wall with the help of the huge inertia of the iron pillar. This pendulum-like siege machine is unimaginably huge, and the originally strong Guishan city wall will collapse under a few impacts.

In Guishan City, Huo Guang and the others were taking a short break after the war. Both sides were exhausted from this protracted war, and every day the armies of both sides fought inside and outside the city walls, and finally tacitly repaired their own.

The only thing to be thankful for is that because this is a city defense battle, the ironclad cavalry, which has the strongest combat effectiveness, has not been able to come in handy. So although the battle was also a bit tragic, Huo Guang's side was quite comfortable.

"Governor Dadu, news from Chang'an." Dongfang Shuo hurriedly approached Huo Guang and held up the envelope in his hand.

"The progress of the witch case again?" Huo Guang took the envelope handed by Dongfang Shuo and asked. Huo Guang had already received the news about the Gongsun He Wu Gu case half a month ago, and now although the battle in Guishan City is fierce, the news channel is quite smooth.

Dongfang Shuo didn't answer, but his eyes gestured to the fire paint seal with a special mark on Huo Guang's hand.

Huo Guang subconsciously glanced at the seal fire paint, the mark on it was a mythical and legendary bird, this bird resembled a phoenix, but the crown and tail were different from the phoenix, this is a divine bird called Qingluan.

Qingluan mostly refers to women or messengers, and it is precisely because of this meaning that Huo Tang was selected as a emblem to represent his identity. In other words, this is a handwritten letter sent by Huo Tang. Since leaving Chang'an, Huo Guang has received no more than three handwritten letters like this.

Huo Guang opened the envelope and looked at the contents of the letterhead with a solemn face, the more he looked at it, the more frightened he became. Huo Tang's handwritten letter is the latest situation of the witch Gu case recorded, and there are also some clues found by Huo Tang. "So many people have been implicated...... What a depraving of this person......"

"Prepare the pen and ink." Huo Guang stood up as he spoke, and threw the letterhead into the brazier.

Soon Huo Guang personally wrote down three letters, and after the three letters were packed, they were carefully sealed with fire paint, and finally Huo Guang also took out a goose-egg-sized seal from his arms, and stamped his unique seal on the three fire paints.

"Send it to Chang'an immediately, this is for the Hou Mansion, this one is for Fu Lihou, and this one is handed over to the Marquis of Wanguan." Huo Guang wrote the words Anyang, Fuli, and Wanguan on the envelope respectively, and then handed the letter to Dongfang Shuo.

"My subordinates will do it." Dongfang Shuo bowed slightly and took the three letters. No one knew what was written in the letter that Huo Guang burned just now, but they all saw from Huo Guang's performance that they were in a hurry.

"Pass on my edict and order Zhao Ponu to lead 30,000 Hexi troops out of Yangguan and camp in Wu'an City." Huo Guang opened his mouth to speak, and Sima Qian immediately took notes. Now Sima Qian is not only writing historical materials, but also drafting documents and the like, in this tragic war, Sima Qian can't stay out of the matter, so he naturally has a strong contribution.

"Bai Zheng." Huo Guang continued to call Bai Zheng's name.

"The end will be." Bai Zheng bowed and hugged his fists.

"The governor of Pontus has decided to abandon Guishan City in three days, and all our troops will retreat to Wu'an City, and order you to be the vanguard and sweep away all the enemy troops in front of you." This time, Huo Guang made a major and surprising decision. Most of the people showed confusion and confusion when they heard Huo Guang's order to retreat.

"No" Bai Zheng bowed down again to receive the order, he didn't show much doubt, just naturally received the order.

"Li Ling" Huo Guang ignored the doubts of the others and continued to call out Li Ling's name.

"The end will be."

"I want you to lead 20,000 elite soldiers." Huo Guang spoke again.

"Nuo" Li Ling also responded to the order, but his face was somewhat puzzled.

Huo Guang paused, then his eyes swept over everyone present, and said to everyone: "Three days later, the whole army retreated at dawn, and this place is no longer suitable for us to defend. ”

"No." Everyone present bowed in unison.

As Huo Guang's retreat order was given, everyone began to get busy again. Tens of thousands of people and some Dawan nobles want to retreat, it is not an easy task, and there are many places to prepare. A military discussion ended with a short break.

"Big brother, why are we withdrawing? There are still nearly 50,000 elites in the city, and there are less than 150,000 troops in Anxi, so it's okay to fight for at least another year and a half? The white soldier at the head of Guishan City asked his brother puzzled.

Bai Zheng was one of the few generals who did not have doubts about the retreat order. In Bai Zheng's opinion, Huo Guang's retreat decision did have some truth, and he could think of at least three points that were beneficial to the Han army.

"You don't listen to you when you usually learn more about the art of war, but now you know that your brain is not enough?" Bai Zheng glanced at his younger brother with a straight face, and did not forget to educate Bai Bing at this time.

Bai Bing scratched his head and said embarrassedly: "Isn't there a big brother here, I just need to charge and kill the enemy, and it's enough to have a big brother with my brain!" ”

"Our Wu'an City is on a hillside, with gentle slopes on all sides, and with this kind of inclination, the metal siege equipment of the rest people cannot be used, this is one of them. Second, the city of Wu'an is less than 1,000 miles away from Dunhuang, which greatly shortens our supply line, and if the Anxian people advance eastward, their supply line will increase by more than 1,500 li, which will naturally be more beneficial to us. Bai Zheng patiently explained to his younger brother.

"Then why didn't we defend Wu'an City from the beginning and waste three months here in vain?" Bai Bing was still a little puzzled, he felt that what his eldest brother said was very reasonable, but the more this happened, the more he didn't understand why he didn't choose to fight in Wu'an City in the first place.

When Bai Zheng heard this, a trace of an inexplicable smile suddenly appeared on the corner of his mouth, and then he lowered his head and whispered in Bai Bing's ear: "Look at who are the rest of us around?" And who are the supplies we used for these three months? ”

Bai Bing subconsciously turned his head to look around, he didn't care much about it, but after Bai Zhengyi reminded him, he suddenly found that most of the rest of the city wall were the Hexi Army composed of Han people, as well as a small number of Wusun soldiers, and finally the Dawan people could only see so many occasionally.

"This ...... Worthy of ...... Slaughter..... Governor..... "Bai Bing said in a trance, and some words that should not be said almost blurted out. Thinking of the materials that Bai Zheng finally said for the past three months, even if Bai Bing is not good at using his brain, he has already understood the essence.

Huo Guang took Guishan City as the front line, and in the three-month battle, he consumed ten of the ** of Dawan's soldiers, and even consumed the materials of the entire Guishan City. In this way, not only Dawan was consumed, but also the rest of the Eastern Crusade Corps. And if Huo Guang retreated to Wu'an City at the beginning, then Dawan's resources would be taken over by Anxi and become part of the Anxi Eastern Expeditionary Army. In that case, I am afraid that what we have to face in Wu'an City is not the 180,000 Eastern Expeditionary Army, but most likely 200,000......

Of course, Huo Guang is not the kind of person who kills them all, the Dawan nobles who surrendered to him at the beginning are now fine, and even in his retreat plan, Huo Guang does not intend to abandon these Dawan nobles, as long as these people are willing, as long as they defeat Anxi in the future, these Dawan nobles can still return to their homeland.

Bai Zheng is not the only smart person in the Hexi Army, Dongfang Shuo Suwu and others have actually seen that Huo Guang is stepping down step by step, although it is a seemingly tragic war, he has the initiative everywhere. This kind of holistic view is no longer limited to the wins and losses of one city and one place, and all aspects of the consideration are even years and decades later. With such foresight and strategy, Huo Guang has surpassed all the famous generals throughout the ages. In the eyes of Dongfang Shuo and others, Huo Guang's use of war is not just as simple as the art of war!

In the Dawan Palace, Huo Guang packed up some simple things, and at the same time threw some documents into the brazier and burned them. On his side, Dawan Zuo Xiang Cai stood with his head bowed, and said in his already proficient Chinese: "According to the orders of the Metropolitan Governor, in addition to the grain and grass that he carries with him, the remaining grain and grass equipment has been piled together, and all the grain and grass equipment can be burned together when the Metropolitan Governor orders it!" ”

"Don't wait, it'll burn tomorrow." Huo Guang continued to throw the paperwork into the brazier, and said without raising his head. He had ordered all the remaining grain and grass to be burned, and he did not intend to leave anything for the resting people.

"That'..... Do you want to pick some of the treasures of the Dawan kings in this palace and take them away? Mo Cai hesitated, but still mustered up the courage to ask.

"What? Zuo Xiang is reluctant to give up these treasures? Huo Guang turned his head and asked with a consistent smile on his face.

"Don't dare..... The subordinates just feel a pity! "Wu Cai buried his head lower, the treasures collected by Dawan for hundreds of years are naturally very considerable, and it is reasonable for Wu Cai to be reluctant.

Huo Guang threw the last document into the brazier, then clapped his hands gently, slowly stood up, walked a few steps closer to Wu Cai, and finally stopped four or five steps away from Wu Cai.

"Don't worry, it's useless for the rest of the people to take these things, they are just some things for pleasure, and they can't increase their combat power at all. These are only temporary deposits. If you can trust Pontus, then trust me, it won't be long before this place will still be our place, and you can continue to be your left minister, and those treasures will still be in this palace. Of course..... If you can't believe me...... Hehe......" Huo Guang said earnestly to Wu Cai, and then smiled harmlessly.

This smile frightened Mo Cai into a cold sweat, and he quickly knelt on the ground and said, "My subordinates don't dare..... His subordinates have given everything to the Grand Duke, including their loyalty and trust in the Grand Duke. ”

"Get up, in that case, go and gather your henchmen and go to Wu'an City together." Huo Guang lowered his head and looked at Yu Cai and said, for these somewhat smart people, Huo Guang is not only gracious, there are too many smart people in this world who have died under Huo Guang's hands.

Yu Cai stood up with amnesty, subconsciously wiped the cold sweat on his forehead, and was about to turn around and withdraw. He really didn't want to stay with Huo Guang for more, this kind of depressed feeling of walking on thin ice, Wu Cai was really a little afraid, and he finally deeply understood what the Han people meant by the phrase 'accompanying the king is like accompanying the tiger'.

"Oh, forgot to tell you. As long as a person's life remains, things can be taken back. If you take something and lose your life, it's not worth it, so help me convey this sentence to other Dawan nobles. Before Cai Cai went out, Huo Guang suddenly said something again.

"My subordinates understand, and I must tell everyone." Yu Cai bowed down again and said, he understood what Huo Guang meant, and he understood how he should persuade those Dawan nobles who were unwilling to leave.

When Huo Guang was the only one left in the main hall of the palace, he raised his head and looked at the sky outside the palace that had sunset, with an expectant look in his eyes, and then said to himself: "Madam, daughter...... Wait a little longer..... It won't be long before our family is reunited......"