Just when Zan Wanshou broke the Mongolian army in Diaoyu City, Cao Ergou also led the army to Pengxi Village. After the autumn, the river leading to Pengxi Village dropped a lot, and it was no longer possible to drive large and medium-sized transport ships, so the army did not take the waterway, but advanced along the official road. The Perak Army that rescued Pengxi was still the force that pursued Niu Lin, namely the two infantry brigades of the 1st Division, the divisional brigade, and 2,000 men led by Yang Bangxian. Yang Wen still led a thousand Banzhou troops to guard Jiantandu and Lingquan Mountain.

During the march, there were cavalry who continuously sent information to Cao Ergou. They belonged to the cavalry brigade of the 1st Division, and they were originally 300 cavalry left by Wu Qing to guard Lingquan Mountain. After Yang Wen took over the defense of Lingquan Mountain, they went to Pengxi Village. It's just that Pengxi Village is surrounded by Yang Dayuan, except for a very small number of people who can enter the city through ropes and maintain contact with the outside world, the rest of the people can't enter the village at all, and the cavalry is even more so.

Seeing that they could not meet the robes in the village, the 300 cavalry harassed the enemy's grain routes on the periphery, attacking and killing the enemy's messengers and scouts, which made the new annexed army unbearable. In addition to the need to divide heavy troops to protect the grain routes, it also made the information of the new annexed army not smooth and the military situation lagged behind. Lingquan Mountain is only more than 100 miles to Pengxi Village, and the army only needs three days to arrive. But because of their existence, when Yang Dayuan learned that the reinforcements of the Perak Army were coming, Cao Ergou's army was only sixty miles away from Pengxi Village.

Yang Dayuan knew that he would definitely not be able to stop Cao Ergou. A series of defeats of the Mongolian army in Mianshui, Jianzhou, Zizhou, Shenjian City, and Fushun also reached his ears, and he secretly made preparations to retreat at that time. He didn't think much of Liu Cheng and Liu Heima, but he knew the combat power of Niu Ling and Baijianu. Before surrendering to Mongolia, Yang Dayuan had fought with the two many times, all of which were more defeats and fewer victories. Cao Ergou, who easily defeated the two of them, came, how could he not be weak-hearted.

Yang Dayuan and his nephew Yang Wenli originally had 8,000 people, but after the loss of Pengxi Village and Lingquan Mountain, there were still 6,500 people, and the number of people reached more than 10,000 with thousands of people. If so many people retreated in a hurry, it would turn into a rout under the pursuit. He knew that if he escaped, Cao Ergou might not be able to catch up, because the other party was also an infantryman, and he also brought artillery and a lot of ammunition, so his speed would not be faster than his own. But the trouble is that the Thunderbolt army guarding the village has more than 1,000 cavalry, and there are 300 cavalry on the periphery. These cavalry will severely slow their march.

After thinking about it, Yang Dayuan made two preparations. He first wrote a letter to Kipchak, begging the Dongchuan Marshal of the Mongolian army to send troops to save him. In his opinion, since he surrendered to Mongolia, he has been loyal and fought for the Mongols, and the Kipchak should send troops to rescue him. Besides, he still has thousands of elites, and he only needs to come with 2,000 light cavalry to suppress the cavalry of the Perak Army, and then he can lead the army to retreat calmly.

In addition to looking forward to reinforcements, Yang Dayuan was also ready to escape alone. To escape successfully, the first thing is to limit the movement of the Thunderbolt cavalry. For this reason, on the one hand, he selected 500 elites to hold the camp at the bottom of the mountain in Pengxi Village. Although this fortress was not as strong as a fortified city, it was also equipped with moats, earthen walls, fences, triphorses, etc. The Thunderbolt cavalry in Pengxi Village did not have heavy firearms, and it was extremely difficult to break through the blockade of the barracks.

On the other hand, Yang Dayuan picked another 1,000 soldiers and 2,000 people to dig up the official road. It was autumn rain, and the road was already difficult to navigate. Once this official road is destroyed, it will be even more difficult for the heavy artillery of the Thunderbolt Army to move forward. Although the road can be rebuilt, it will take time after all, and by the time the road is passable again, he has already led his main force to go far.

Hearing that Cao Ergou was getting closer and closer, Yang Dayuan began to go to Qingju City with five thousand elites, and the people who accompanied him were all strong people. Among those who remained, in addition to the 500 elites who guarded the barracks, the trench diggers and soldiers were all old, weak, sick and disabled. It was obviously impossible to expect these people to block the Thunderbolt Army, so Yang Dayuan gave a special explanation to Yang Wenli before leaving. He told his nephew that if he couldn't do anything, he could lead his cronies to retreat. "Stay in the green mountains, not afraid of no firewood."

Two days later, Cao Ergou led his army to Pengxi Village. Although the official road was dug up and caused trouble, it was only delayed for half a day. Half a day before the Thunderbolts arrived, the new annexes fled in a hurry. Except for a few who were captured by the Thunderbolt cavalry, the rest fled into the mountains and forests, preparing to escape back to Qingju City by mountain paths. Most of the people stayed where they were and surrendered. They had also heard of the Thunderbolts' policies, which did not harm innocent people, but rather treated them with courtesy.

The enemy scattered and fled without warning, leaving the Thunderbolt cavalry outside Pengxi Village in a hurry. When Yang Dayuan fled, they divided a hundred cavalry and followed, mainly to monitor the enemy's movements. The remaining 200 horsemen, in the face of the new annex soldiers all over the mountains, could not catch them at all, so they simply ignored them, but single-mindedly collected those people. After recovering Tongchuan Road, the Thunderbolts will be even more short of labor.

Seeing the enemy scattering and fleeing, Wu Qing in Pengxi Village was even more anxious. Although surrounded by a large army, the losses of the Thunderbolt army in the village were not serious, and there were still a thousand cavalry at the moment. If these cavalry break the seal, they will inevitably hunt down many new annexes, and even pose a serious threat to Yang Dayuan, who had fled earlier. It's just that the road down the mountain has wide trenches that need to be filled, earthen walls that need to be torn down, and tripwires that need to be cleared, and there is no way to open the way for pursuit.

More importantly, Yang Wenli set a fire to the camp before escaping. The war horse was afraid of the fire, neighing and refusing to step forward. If you force your horse to rush over, you will catch up with the enemy, but your horse will inevitably suffer heavy losses. As the commander of the cavalry brigade, Wu Qing regarded the horses as comrades-in-arms, and knew that the horses of the Perak Army were not easy to come by. Riding a horse through the sea of fire in pursuit of the rout of the new annexed army was really more than worth the loss.

Wu Qing had to organize the soldiers and civilians in the village to go to the Mongolian army camp to extinguish the fire. Pengxi Village is less than two hundred miles away from Qingju City, and it only takes four days to arrive under light clothing, so when Yang Dayuan retreated, he did not take away the baggage, and even brought not much food. When Yang Wenli fled, he only brought four days of water. At this time, a large amount of grain and grass were left in the newly attached army camp. Yang Dayuan naturally didn't want to leave these things to the Thunderbolt Army.

It took half a day for the soldiers and civilians in the village to extinguish the fire, but most of the grain and grass had been burned, which made many people in the village cry bitterly on the spot. Before Yang Dayuan sent people to Pengxi to forcibly requisition a lot of grain, the people in the village have been living a half-starved and half-full life. Seeing that the food saved by starvation was burned by a fire, how could they not feel distressed. Yang Dayuan's behavior inadvertently wiped out the reputation he had accumulated in Pengxi Village. Wu Qing lost no time in saying that as long as the Thunderbolt Army was in Pengxi Village, not a single citizen would be starved.

While the Thunderbolt Army was busy gathering people and fighting fires, Yang Wenli had already fled to the mountains and forests with five hundred elites. Wu Qing had no choice but to leave 400 cavalry and the newly reformed army to clean up the mess, and sent someone to report the military situation to Cao Ergou, who was only 20 miles away from Pengxi Village, and he led 1,000 cavalry to pursue Yang Wenyuan in a hurry.

Yang Wenyuan set off two days ago, and after rushing all the way, he only needed to march for two more days to reach Qingju City. Therefore, Wu Qing also traveled lightly, chased very quickly, and forcibly marched a hundred miles in one day, and caught up with Yang Wenyuan's rear team at noon on the second day. This is a small mountain plain with a radius of several miles, only forty miles away from Qingju City.