The guards hurriedly ran into the tent, panting and reporting, "Your Highness, the Metasequoia Army has retreated!" ”

Before Alekjiang could react, Durham's bloated body bounced off the felt carpet, and his eyes widened as big as copper bells: "What did you say?" Are they retreating?! ”

The guards were frightened by Durham's terrifying momentum, nodded, and were about to explain in detail, when Alekjan had already gotten up, grabbed Durham and ran outside.

"Master Hou, hurry up and take a look!"

The two men rushed out of the tent, turned on their horses, and ran all the way to the shore.

When they came to the east bank of the Ulundu River and looked at the west bank, they were stunned by the sight in front of them.

The camp of the Zhenjiang Army not far from the opposite side was full of people and noisy horses at this time. Groups of soldiers lined up in neat rows and were leaving the camp one after another. The shieldmen and archers who were on guard on the banks of the river also began to shrink their formation, apparently as the retreat of the large army was drawing to a close, and they, as the rearguard, were also ready to leave.

Durham and the Alec looked at each other, not knowing how to react for a moment.

"Master Hou, this ...... What's going on? Could it be that Li Jiangyao noticed it? Alekjiang was stunned for a long time before he asked this sentence.

Durham was confused, thought for a moment, and suddenly slapped his thigh: "It's bad, you must not let Li Jiangyao slip away!" ”

Alikjiang also nodded repeatedly: "Yes, yes, yes, whether he sees through our strategy or not, he must not be allowed to run away so easily, the prince's army will soon arrive here, if you pounce on it......"

Alekjiang didn't dare to say any more. If the elite Turkic cavalry found themselves in the air after a long journey of several hundred miles, although it was not a loss, Durham and Alekjiang, as the front-line commanders, would definitely not have any good fruit to eat.

Of course, Durham understood this truth, and shouted urgently: "Alekjiang, quickly mobilize your troops, cross the river immediately, catch up with Li Jiangyao, and entangle the Metasequoia army!" ”

Then he turned to his lieutenant and said, "You immediately send men across the river to the other side to meet the army of Deputy Marshal Mohadi, tell him that the situation may change, and let them come and encircle the enemy as soon as possible!" ”

"Yes!" The deputy let out a loud shout, turned and ran to give orders.

At this time, the large battalion of the Western Xinjiang Allied Army sounded the rapid sound of horns, and the soldiers and horses of each battalion and team quickly gathered and prepared to force the crossing of the Ulundu River.

-

"Well, I say, sir, what if your judgment is wrong?" Huo Liya looked at the panicked scene on the other side, and said to Li Jiangyao beside her: "If there is no Turkic army as you imagined at all, then wouldn't we lose the most important river bank defense line in vain?" ”

Li Jiangyao smiled slightly: "If you asked me this question half an hour ago, I really don't know the bottom in my heart." But now it seems that my conjecture is mostly eight or nine out of ten. ”

Horia glanced at the other side again, and nodded lightly: "The reaction over there is indeed not normal. Generally speaking, when the enemy sees us suddenly abandoning our position and retreating in a big way, they should be suspicious and send someone to investigate and find out our intentions before making the next move. But they were fine, as soon as we were about to leave, we panicked. ”

"So, what they really want is not just the riverbank defense line," Li Jiangyao stared into Huo Liya's eyes and smiled, "It's us, right?" ”

Horia also showed a "figured it out" expression: "Well, that's right. Since the enemy is so sure that he will eat us, he must have an unexpected killing move. Now that we haven't had time to use the tricks, we are going to pull out our legs and slip away, of course, we will not be reconciled! ”

Li Jiangyao sighed with a relieved long beard: "Okay." Now there are two things, one is to find the Turkic army I guessed as soon as possible, and the other is to run for our lives, don't let Durham really bite us, otherwise we will whine! ”

Horia smiled: "Don't worry! The infantry battalion of the Third Army walked more than an hour in advance, and soon was able to join up with Lin Feng, who was in charge of the response, and return safely to Metasequoia. Now they are all the most elite white-robed troops here, even if they fight them hard, they are not afraid, let alone just retreat. I'm very worried about General Xu's side, and I don't know if they will be able to hear from us in time. ”

"I'm not worried about that." Li Jiangyao's tone was relaxed: "According to our latest judgment, the one led by Duolun is definitely not the main force of the Left Route Army, so it will not pose much of a threat to Xu Youchang and them." As long as Xu Youchang strictly follows the discipline norms learned in Yanwutang to command the battle, he will definitely pay attention to keeping the information flowing smoothly and receive our new orders in time. And that guy seems to be loyal, but in fact, he has a bad stomach, and he will definitely be able to cooperate with us as planned. ”

Horia nodded firmly, drew the long sword at her waist, and shouted, "Brothers, it's time to act. Listen to my orders and set fire to the camp! ”

-

Duolun hid in the dense forest, peeking at the phalanx of the Zhenjiang army in the distance.

He had arrived at noon the day before yesterday on the orders of the Prince of the Temple, Ronia, and was accompanied by a purely cavalry force of six thousand men, consisting of the garrison and the Left Army of Gelhan. The infantry of the Left Army remained in Daban Castle, led by Gelhan, and continued to besiege the Shenhua Army.

Duolun looked at the situation outside the forest as he pouted.

The scene in front of him was a little different from what he had imagined in advance, and he couldn't help but be secretly worried in his heart.

According to Ronia's pre-war analysis, this time Li Jiangyao led the main force of the Metasequoia Army, relying on the Ulundu River to block the Western Xinjiang Middle Route Army, with the strength of the Alekjiang River, I am afraid it will be difficult to break through the defense line from the front, let alone successfully destroy the opponent's elite troops of up to 50,000 people.

However, if the left army is rashly transferred to outflank from the flank, then not only will the defenders of Dabancheng become a huge threat behind Gelhan, but it is also difficult to guarantee that they will not fall for Li Jiangyao's tricks again, accidentally get into the ambush set up by the other side in the middle of the road, and repeat the mistake of the right army of Tani.

Therefore, if you want to completely annihilate the remnants of the Holy Tang Army, you have to use another new force - the main Turkic force stationed in the Liangguan battalion.

But the problem is that the Liangguan battalion also has its own tasks. The strength of the Shengtang troops gathered in Zijin Pass and Shengyu Pass should not be underestimated, although the two sides are safe at the moment, but if the troops on their side have just been transferred, Shengtang will suddenly turn his face and wave his troops out of the pass, then it will be a big trouble.

In this case, the maximum number of troops that Ronia can mobilize is only about 10,000 people.

The only feasible way to achieve a decisive victory with a meagre force of 10,000 men is to disperse the enemy as much as possible, run long distances, and break them one by one.

As a result, the Turkic Templar Prince Ronya set up the situation in front of him.

On the one hand, he ordered Durham to set up a suspicious formation, so that Li Jiangyao and the others were convinced that the plan of the middle route army to flank the front and rear was accidentally exposed, and then they could make full preparations, rest assured and bold to defend the river bank, and wait for work.

On the other hand, he ordered Duolun to lead a highly mobile cavalry unit to approach the Metasequoia Army from the flank and rear, bluffing, causing the Left Route Army to come to cooperate with the Central Route Army, and at the same time, he was also accidentally detected by the Zhenjiang Army, and then let Li Jiangyao and them divide their superior forces and give the Left Route Army a head-on attack.

The real killing move was the 10,000 iron cavalry led by another Turkic deputy marshal Mohadi, starting from the Liangguan battalion, starry and night, directly attacking the commander of the Zhenjiang army guarding the west bank of the Ulundu River.

After Mohadi succeeded, the Turkic cavalry joined forces with the Western Xinjiang Middle Route Army, and then assaulted the main force of the Zhenjiang Army attracted by Duolun's suspicious soldiers from behind, completing the final encirclement and strangulation.

The reason why Ronia wanted to deploy this relatively complex tactic was mainly because he was worried that if the tactics were too straightforward, Li Jiangyao would take the initiative to retreat to Metasequoia City when he realized that he might be surrounded. At that time, not only will the siege be prolonged, but the casualties paid by the attackers will be extremely high and not cost-effective.

As a favorite general cultivated by Ronia, Duolun naturally has a deeper understanding of the manager's combat intentions.

He led the cavalry troops under his command to rush to the outside of Feixing Gorge in the stars and moons, and waited for a long time before he saw the banner of the Zhenjiang Army from a distance. Duolun's heart that had been hanging was finally let go, and it was clear that the Prince of the Temple's plan had worked.

Feixing Gorge is not too close to Pansong Ferry, and even if it is a rapid march, it will take more than half a day to arrive. At this time, the main force of the Metasequoia Army came here, which means that the other party is already convinced that he is sure that he can eat his "suspicious army" while holding the ferry.

And this idea will also give Deputy Marshal Mohadi, who is rapidly approaching the Ulundu River, an excellent opportunity to attack.

Now that the victory on the river bank is basically in hand, the task of Solen's side is also clearer: to do everything possible to hold back the main enemy force in front of him and buy time for Mohadi. After Li Jiangyao is eliminated, he will launch a siege on this side.

However, at this time, a strange phenomenon caused Duolun's doubts.

Not long after the main force of the Zhenjiang Army started its combat formation, it suddenly stopped all movements without warning and turned into standing by.

Duolun hurriedly ordered the troops to deliberately expose the target, so that the Zhenjiang army on the opposite side would find out. But I never expected that even if I saw Duolun's soldiers and horses clearly, the other side still didn't have the slightest reaction to face the battle.

The army of about 40,000 people, less than three miles away from Duolun, kept quiet, silent, as if asleep.

Duolun was a little stunned by this meeting.

He had the intention to send troops to take the initiative to provoke, but the troops on his hand were really limited, and the rash attack felt like an egg hitting a stone. At the same time, he couldn't figure out what kind of medicine the other party was selling in the gourd, so he didn't dare to act rashly.

Just when Duolun was puzzled, the Zhenjiang army in the distance suddenly moved!

The four ironclad cavalry thousand-man squares that were originally deployed on both sides advanced a hundred steps forward at this time, facing Duolun's side from afar, while the rest of the army turned backwards in unison, and the rear team changed to the front team, and then walked away without looking back.

Obviously, the cavalry that moved forward was acting as a rearguard for the whole army.

Not good! They're leaving! Duolun was startled, and then a sense of foreboding arose.

The officer beside him asked anxiously, "General Duolun, they ran away, what should we do?" Chasing? ”

Duolun weighed it in his heart: only a small part of the 6,000 cavalry under his command were his own iron pigeon army, and the rest were miscellaneous armies from various countries in Western Xinjiang. These people use the strategy of fighting and fleeing, and they can barely do it by catching each other. But if you want to shake the opponent's ironclad cavalry army head-on in the field of this horse Pingchuan, it is estimated that it will collapse in a few rounds.

Duolun shook his head helplessly: "Forget it...... Alas, Li Jiangyao is too cunning! ”

-

"General Xu, how is it? Is it safe? Du Jian asked in a low voice. In fact, there is no need for him to speak softly, he is surrounded by ironclad cavalry, and he is not afraid of being heard by the enemy.

Xu Youchang opened the helmet mask and took a long breath: "Huh——, looking at the reaction of the enemy on the other side, it should be the same as the judgment of adults." In front of us is not the main force of the Left Army at all, but a weak and suspicious army. ”

"I think so!" Du Jian showed a relaxed expression and beckoned to the herald: "Pass my order, tell the brigade to speed up the march, don't be nervous!" ”

At this time, Xu Youchang and Du Jian's position was in the cavalry phalanx that was left behind.

The two had been worried before, lest the army retreat, and a large army of the Left Route Army would suddenly appear on the other side of the canyon, and suddenly cover up. However, the other party obviously does not have that strength, let alone the guts.

Xu Youchang pulled the reins and whipped his horsewhip fiercely: "It's just a suspicious soldier here!" Walk! We're waiting for us! ”